Comments regarding Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee)

Regarding the Burpee bankruptcy info. Here's a link to an article: //www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/9/0,2163,61089,00.html

In case the link expires (which tends to happen with news stories), here's the gist: "...Burpee has closed its four retail outlets to focus on catalog and Internet sales. Burpee Holding Co, the firm's parent, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The family of third-generation seedsman and CEO George Ball Jr. has owned Burpee since 1991..."

I think the references to Burpee's bankruptcy may be the result of some inaccurate comments on another gardening website (a thread on that site also has Burpee linked with the Plantron companies and/or Foster Gallagher, both of which are also in bankruptcy, but are not related to Burpee.)

Going out of business?? Really?? How sad. I remember my dad ordering seeds from them, and I do so every year myself. Where am I going to get my "Sweet Zukes" and "Biker Billy Peppers"?? I hope it's just a bad rumor....WZ

Always a good value in seed as well as a nice selection of new introductions from Burpee. Germination rates have always been high for me. I usually order some things from them each year, and enjoy their catalogue (altho they tend to send out multiples each season - and I can't get them to stop that)

I have ordered from many companies over the Internet and find Burpee one of my favorite.

I took advantage of their offer to purchase a $25.00 gift certificate for $20.00. I bought two. When I tried to redeem them online, I found out that you can only redeem them via snail mail :( Next, I tried to order via phone but encountered the same answer. I went ahead and sent my order with the certificates and am anxious to see if they fulfill my order. I feel that they should have made it clear that these certificates could only be used in this way.

I put neutral because I have had one positive and one negative experience with this company.

I ordered a gift certificate to Burpee for my grandmother one year and they sent it promptly. However a few weeks later they sent another one that I had not ordered. Wanting to be honest I called about it and agreed to let them charge me for the additional certificate and keep it. I did not realize though that they had already charged me for the second certificate that I had never ordered! So I was charged three times. When I called they reimbursed me for the third charge but it had resulted in an overdraw on my checking account and they did nothing to help with the bank fees from the overdrawn account.

However when I redeemed the certificate the order came promptly and was exactly what I had expected. Everything in the order was in good condition.

Didn't know about the company going bankrupt - maybe that is why their website didn't work worth beans and when I called the 800 number, all I got was music. Now I just hope my order goes through and check gets cashed properly.

FYI-This company has recently filed for bankrupcty protection. I never thought this would happen.

I HAD A DIFFICULT TIME WITH THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPATMENT AFTER RECEIVING SOME DAMAGED PLANTS. I ALSO HAD ISSUES WITH THE ORDER NOT PROCESSED CORRECTLY.

One of the seed companies that I always order from. I have had good luck with their seeds.

Dissappointed that this large company won't make any effort to send seeds to Canada.....many tiny seed companies make the effort but not them....... they also have a second and very poorly promoted catalogue that specialized in Heirloom seeds...... have had to get it sent to friends in the U.S. and then on to me..... and ordered the same way! Thumbs down :(

I haven't ordered through the mail for a while but still purchase their seeds through local suppliers. Have had excellent results. Very good germination.

Have always received good quality products. Have always received order correctly and timely so have never had to use their customer service.

I have ordered seeds from them the last 2 years.Always have a good germination rate from them. Plus fast delivery. They have a nice selection of seeds.

Back in 1987 or thereabouts, I ordered a number of seed packets from them including some petunias. The contents of the seed packet were short of count, but it wasn't too bad so I didn't bother complaining. They were the weakest, most pathetic petunia seedlings you've ever seen, and every one of them died. I asked for a refund, and instead they just sent me another pack of the same failed petunia seeds! I have never ordered from Burpee since that time, and it doesn't surprise me in the least that they're in bankruptcy with such poor customer service, poor packaging and misrepresentation of products.

Everytime that I've ordered from Burpee's service was fine and the seeds had a good germination rate. I have not used them in several years and probably won't,but that is just because I'm making an effort to use smaller companies when I have to purchase commercially grown seeds.

I've ordered off/on for many years; always reliable and good seed quality.

This is a very reliable company. I find that their seeds have a very good germination rate and are 1st quality.It took 2-3 weeks to receive the seeds and I will definitely order from them again.

They are a large Company, and most of the time have what you are looking for. Service is getting slower,and prices have gone up quite a bit since I started ordering from them.

Burpee is probably the largest of all the companies.
I have ordered from them for years. In 2001 the service seemed to decline.

In March their customer service line was busy constantly.
I placed a order online and they lost it.

I love their 4th of July tomatoes so I will have to order the seeds from them but I think that will be all.

I have nothing but bad things to say about Burpee. In general, I make a lot of purchases via the web, so I'm familiar with that type of commerce. Burpee's web business STINKS. My transaction was unsatisfactory. Months after ordering, when I inquired about the status of my order, I was told there was a crop failure and the seeds wouldn't be sent That's fine, but why did I have to contact them to find that out? Since I paid with a credit card, why didn't they refund my money the same way, promptly, instead of sending TWO SEPARATE refund checks at different times, WEEKS after that? And currently, how do I get off of their email junk list? I've followed their instructions on the website SEVERAL times, emailed them directly DOZENS of times, and phoned. Getting junk email is not the worst thing in the world, but why would a company do this? It just seems indicative of the total lack of any structure in the web business. Boy. Thanks for listening. Burpee sure doesn't.

I purchased a packet of Burpee seeds from a garden center and found no seeds in it. I e-mailed customer service and was responded to promptly, but had failed to include an address where they could mail new seeds. I sent the information back to them immediately. That was in February, and it is now August.I've e-mailed them on six different occasions, using their "feedback" form as well as replying to the e-mail that they originally sent me. I've gone from nice to concerned to ticked off and still haven't heard from them. If someone gives me a plant with a Burpee tag on it, I'll stomp it into the ground! Of course, Burpee still sends me their monthly e-newsletter! Humph!!

[Update]
The only reason that I didn't go back to the store where the seeds were purchased was that I thought that maybe there had been a bad run of seeds or some other kind of problem that Burpee might have wanted to know about. I thought that maybe I was doing them a favor. After the initial contact with them, it was more the point of the whole thing. I never did hear from them via e-mail again, but I have reached them by phone. The CS operator stated that she didn't have my seeds listed in the catalogue in front of her, so she would refund the money I spent on them (all $1.99!). She also said that they are in the process of changing banks, so the check won't be mailed out until the last week of September. She refused to comment on the issue of lack of customer service.

I ordered seeds from Burpee's this spring. Waited over 7 weeks. Sent 3 e-mails. Finally they arrived. Won't order from them again.

I've also ordered seeds from Burpee to get a few varieties that Gurney doesn't have. Burpee orders have always been accurate and their seeds are very good. But since you can buy them now at Wal-Mart at a discount, why mess with the catalogue?

I've had good luck, for the most part, with Burpee's, although I agree with the above comments regarding their customer service, which is less than it could be, for sure. I've ordered mainly seeds, which always do well. This year I did buy onion sets, sweet potatoes, 6 Ensalada Hybrid tomatoes and 5 Heritage raspberry canes. The onions are going gangbusters and look fabulous. Because of heavy, almost continuous rain, I waited too long with the first batch of sweet potatoes. There was practically nothing left of them, so I threw them on the compost heap. I now have quite a few lovely sweet potatoes growing in my compost heap! The Ensaladas looked great upon arrival, and are growing by leaps and bounds - very hale & hearty. The raspberries looked very bad when they arrived, but I followed the directions that came with them and they're now setting fruit and are beautiful! So, every single plant I got from Burpee's has thrived. I'll definitely be ordering again.

We had a dry summer and quite a few seeds from Burpee (who impressed me!) died as sprouts or didn't even sprout. I e-mailed Burpee and they sent replacements for next year. Here's a tip: don't throw away your empty seed packets, it helps later if you have them when writing the company (Burpee asked for them).

I ordered near $75.00 of daylilies and lilies from Burpee's and they were past living when I received them - none of them survived. I tried to get a replacement or refund for the order and after several attempts and many insults from the service there, I finally quit and took the loss. I order a lot of daylilies and have over 200 different varieties and will never order from Burpee's again.

I've ordered SureStart impatiens from Burpee for 3 years now. I only order from them because I really like the African Orchid variety of impatiens and Burpee is the only company that seems to offer them. The first year they arrived dead-looked like frost/freeze damage. I called and complained and they sent me another order which arrived in great shape. The second year-no problem. This year the plants arrived very damaged-all broken at the base with the soil everywhere. I called and was told they were out of stock and they promptly refunded my money. Still undecided if I will order plants from them again.

Small order - seeds were fine, ferns and foxglove plants were very small - do not appear to have established. Will only order seeds in the future.

After spending two hours trying to make sense of the Burpee Online gardening catalog, I've given up. Way too much technology, way too little usability and information. Besides that, it didn't work. My guess is, the pages are based on Microsoft's "ASP" technology, a proprietary(Microsoft only) technology that breaks wickedly on Netscape browsers. Typical commercial tactics for a technology company, but it doesn't do anything for Burpee's image. I tried to complain, and the "feedback" butten they had provided led me to a (again proprietary) special feedback form (instead of the standard mail form). So I spent 1/2 an hour carefully providing information, and submitted the form. It spits back an "ASP Error".In the chance that Burpee is listening, my criticisms of the site are:1) Navigating the site is difficult because the indexing is insufficient.There's no alphabetic index, and the tables-of-contents for the catalogs appearto be incomplete lists. 2) The search engine's response was unusable. It provided text that looked likelinks, but didn't do anything. 3) The feedback form is completely broken. 4) There is no other information for contacting or feedback via email. 5) There is no option for simplified, text-only or simplified html-onlynavigation of the site. 6) The text and pictures are too small for people with eyesight difficulty, suchas older folks. (But older folks don't garden, do they?)In short, the web site is typical big-company overkill. I won't spend my time with their web site again unless it is revamped.

I wish I knew what everyone was talking about regarding Burpee's catalog, but I just mailed off my FOURTH and last request for a catalog in two years!!! I've requested a catalog by snail mail, e-mail and phone, to no avail. It's actually Burpee's loss since I spent over $450on gardening stuff via mail this year alone.

Burpee's has always been on the pricey side, but I have never had any problems until Spring '98. I ordered one of their "sale" packs that was supposed to have 100 seeds in it. I felt the packet, and said to myself, "There's no way there's a hundred seeds in here!" I opened it up and counted 42 seeds. I called Burpee's, complained, and another package arrived before the week was out. This is definitely a company with quality service!

I've ordered from Burpee's for years. Flower plants do well, tomatoes didn't hold up under OK sun, but little does. Seed are no problem.

I ordered stock from several companies this year, and have planted their stock side by side, you can really tell what came from where. The stock I ordered from Burpee is doing WONDERFULLY!

I have one comment about Burpee, I requested a catalog online and the day after I received it, I received 5 other unrelated home decor catalogs. I will not order from them! They could have included a check box for not including my name and address in a mailing list, but they did not.

I have ordered from Burpee many time over the years, we move a lot so I always have a lot of landscaping to do. I have been very happy with the quality of their plants and also with their service. They have replaced a number of plants that died, even if it was because of unusually bad weather, which we seem to get a lot of here in the midwest. I have also checked out their website, and thought the online ordering was fairly simple. I also asked a question (online) about a tree I've been having problems with (that I didn't even order from them) and had a response to my question within 2 hours! I will definitely continue to order from them.

Unfortunately I have had two bad experiences with Burpee:1) The first year the company offered the "sure start plants" they ran out. However they did not inform me until it was too late for me to order from another company-I called everyweek asking about my plants - starting a week before scheduled ship date. I was not told until a month later and then only because I called. Eventually a letter of apology arrived from the company. Very poor management. 2) Last year I decided to order from them again-one shipment arrived in great condition; the other did not. When I called to say I would go ahead and use these plants, because I did not wish to delay longer, but wanted them to be aware of the problem in case some of the vegetables did not make it, I was greeted with scepticism. Whatever happed to the customer is always right? Most of the plants made it and I never sent any back. However, I will not use Burpee again.

I've only ordered seeds from Burpee before, but this year I decided to try something new and order plants. I ordered impatiens, fuchsias, tomatoes and peppers. The fuchsias turned out to be the wrong color (they promptly sent a refund as they couldn't send more plants). The rest are doing just fine, though I will admit the size of the six pack leaves much to be desired.

I've had no problems with Burpee, but looking over their '97 catalog I was again disappointed in the selection. You get more Burpee choices in KMart's garden center!